Anita Shreve
AUTHOR

Anita Shreve

Literature & Fiction | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). After graduating from Tufts University, she taught high school for a number of years in and around Boston. In the middle of her last year, she quit (something that, as a parent, she finds appalling now) to start writing. "I had this panicky sensation that it was now or never." Joking that she could wallpaper her bathroom with rejections from magazines for her short stories ("I really could have," she says), she published her early work in literary journals. One of these stories, "Past the Island, Drifting," won an O. Henry prize. Despite this accolade, she quickly learned that one couldn't make a living writing short fiction. Switching to journalism, Shreve traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, where she lived for three years, working as a journalist for an African magazine. One of her novels, The Last Time They Met, contains bits and pieces from her time in Africa. Returning to the United States, Shreve was a writer and editor for a number of magazines in New York. Later, when she began her family, she turned to freelancing, publishing in the New York Times Magazine, New York magazine and dozens of others. In 1989, she published her first novel, Eden Close. Since then she has written 14 other novels, among them The Weight of Water, The Pilot's Wife, The Last Time They Met, A Wedding in December, Body Surfing, Testimony,and A Change in Altitude. In 1998, Shreve received the PEN/L. L. Winship Award and the New England Book Award for fiction. In 1999, she received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey, and The Pilot's Wife became the 25th selection of Oprah's Book Club and an international bestseller. In April 2002, CBS aired the film version of The Pilot's Wife, starring Christine Lahti, and in fall 2002, The Weight of Water, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Sean Penn, was released in movie theaters. Still in love with the novel form, Shreve writes only in that genre. "The best analogy I can give to describe writing for me is daydreaming," she says. "A certain amount of craft is brought to bear, but the experience feels very dreamlike." Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13. She has two children and three stepchildren, and in the last eight years has made tuition payments to seven colleges and universities.
Read more Read less

The Best Fiction Podcasts for Listeners Who Love a Good Story

You can’t beat a good story. Luckily, humans are great at storytelling, and the best fiction podcasts are all the proof that the modern listener requires. Get the popcorn ready; it’s storytime.

Featured Article: The Best Fiction Podcasts for Listeners Who Love a Good Story

Best Sellers

Product list
  • The Stars Are Fire cover art

    Price: $23.31 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $23.31 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Light on Snow cover art

    Price: $25.24 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $25.24 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Pilot's Wife cover art

    Price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Sea Glass cover art

    Price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Testimony cover art

    Price: $25.24 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $25.24 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Last Time They Met cover art

    Price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • A Wedding in December cover art

    Price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Testimony: A Novel: Booktrack Edition cover art

    Price: $25.23 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $25.23 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Last Time They Met: Booktrack Edition cover art

    Price: $22.20 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $22.20 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • A Change in Altitude cover art

    Price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $28.27 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Stella Bain cover art

    Price: $37.71 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $37.71 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Rescue cover art

    Price: $25.24 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $25.24 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Testimony cover art

    • Testimony

    • A Novel
    • Written by: Anita Shreve
    • Narrated by: full cast
    • Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
    • Release date: 2008-10-21
    • Language: English
    • Not rated yet

    Price: $19.18 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $19.18 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Hay fuego en los astros [The Stars Are Fire] cover art

    Price: $27.96 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $27.96 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00